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In mid-May, spurred by a press release from the drug czar’s office, the American news media reported with varying levels of hysteria that average marijuana potency had soared past the 10% THC level for the first time. Clearly the sky was falling, or at least was about to.

Small problem: According to the actual report, from the Marijuana Potency Monitoring Project at the University of Mississippi, average marijuana potency is only 8.52% — a fact easily determined by doing something most journalists apparently didn’t bother to attempt: reading the report, which is based on tests of samples seized by police. The way they got to the claimed rate of 10.1% was by including samples of hashish (average potency 20.76%) and hash oil (15.64%). Read the rest of this entry »

But there’s still more work to accomplish before seriously ill Illinois medical marijuana patients can safely acquire and use their medicine without fear of arrest. If you’re an Illinois resident, please help us build on the momentum from this victory and encourage your friends and family in Illinois to do so.

Over the last several days, the popular Web siteÂ DiggÂ has been allowing users to submit and vote up or downÂ various questionsÂ to be posed during today’s “Digg Dialogue” and CNN interview with Calif.Â Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).Â

WhenÂ SchwarzeneggerÂ was asked about taxing and regulating marijuana as a result, he repliedÂ that he doesn’t support changing the current marijuana laws because believes — perhaps alone among citizens — that the current laws have “worked very well for California.”

You’ve got to wonder by what measure he’sÂ gaugingÂ marijuana prohibition’s success. When California first banned marijuana in 1913, the plant was virtually unknown. Now nearly one in ten Californians admit to having used it within any given year – despite the more than 74,000 marijuana arrests made in the state last year alone. More California teens report using marijuana than tobacco, and the drug can be found in nearly every high school in the state. This is a successful law?

Once again, the public is way ahead of politicians on marijuana policy. Taxing and regulating marijuana enjoys majority support in California – at least according to one of the state’s most respected pollsters. Arnold’s job performance ratings, on the other hand, are a whole other story.

For years prohibitionists, including our own Drug Enforcement Administration, have claimed — falsely — that the tolerant marijuana policies of the Netherlands have made that nation a nest of crime and drug abuse. They may have trouble wrapping their little brains around this:

The Dutch government is getting ready to close eight prisons because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them. Officials attribute the shortage of prisoners to a declining crime rate.

One of the canards regularly raised by opponents of medical marijuana is that it just gets people high and doesn’t provide real medical relief. For example, last year former deputy drug czar Scott Burns told a California newspaper,Â “Anybody can say something makes me feel better anecdotally. And I hear that a lot.Â ‘Marijuana is the only thing that makes me feel good.’ I say you should try crack, because from what I hear, crack cocaine will make you feel really good as well.”

Anyone inclined to believe such nonsense should check out an article just published online by the journal Pharmacological Research. The article, by two researchers from the University of Naples, covers the potential benefits of cannabinoids in illnesses involving intestinal inflammation (e.g. Crohn’s disease) and in colorectal cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, Congressman Steven Cohen (D-Tenn.) did a fantastic job of arguing against two common and misinformed prohibitionist arguments during a congressional hearing with FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Watch the video below to see Congressman Cohen refute the arguments that marijuana is particularly harmful and that marijuana is a gateway drug.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate today that sought to undermine the 13 state medical marijuana laws. Coburnâs legislation was defeated in committee (13-10) on a party-line vote.

Offered as an amendment to the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act, Coburnâs legislation would have placed state medical marijuana laws under the regulatory control of the FDA â not necessarily a bad thing on its own. But Coburn’s intentions become apparent when you realize that FDA approval requires specific, FDA-approved research into marijuanaâs risks and benefits as a medicine, something the federal government has blocked for decades. Without the research, MPP feared that the FDA would shut down medical marijuana access nationwide.

The fact that medical marijuana opponents are going on the offensive (and failing) speaks volumes to the success weâve had in recent months.Â The Supreme Court recently affirmed Californiaâs medical marijuana law, and the new administration has stated a policy of non-interference with state medical marijuana laws â and both points were raised during the committee debate. Even Sen. Coburn conceded, âIt is not an illegal product in 13 states.â

It is possible that Sen. Coburn will continue his attack on medical marijuana, but given the opposition he faced today, it’s unlikely he’ll succeed.

MPP Director of Government Relations Aaron Houston discusses the contradictions between State and Federal law regarding the use of marijuana. Specifically, he addresses the U.S. Supreme Court decision not to review a challenge to California medical marijuana law brought by two counties in that state. The counties had been defeated in lower court decisions that affirmed the right of States to make laws that violated Federal law. 05/19/2009

Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota’s Republican governor (pictured below), has “great empathy for the sick.” I know it’s true because he said so.

He just thinks they belong in jail if they need medical marijuana.

He announced his intention to veto the medical marijuana bill at his news conference today. Then, amazingly, he went on to wax rhapsodic about how “The sky is blue, the sun is out. The minds of Minnesotans are turning to Memorial Day, summer, fishing.”

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The opinions expressed by our viewers and posters do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Marijuana Policy Project. These views are those of their individual authors alone. MPP does not condone or support the illegal use of marijuana. We do encourage open and frank discussion, but if a comment has been posted that is in some way significantly inappropriate, please email us at [email protected] to report it. Thank you, and we're looking forward to what you think!

"The plain and simple truth is that alcohol fuels violent behavior and marijuana does not ... alcohol contributes to literally millions of acts of violence in the United States each year. It is a major contributing factor to crimes like domestic violence, sexual assault, and homicide. Marijuana use, on the other hand, is absent in that regard from both crime reports and the scientific literature. There is simply no causal link to be found."
Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper, from the foreword to Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?, 2009